{"id":2150,"date":"2015-04-30T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/?p=2150"},"modified":"2018-01-09T16:42:10","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T16:42:10","slug":"april-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.popastro.com\/deepsky\/april-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five section members sent in 9 images and 5 drawings during April.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan Clitherow, <\/strong>Planetary Section Director, took this image of M86 with his MN 190P telescope and QHY100SC camera.<\/p>\n

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M86<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alan was experimenting with an off axis guider and this image is the result of stacking around 5 six minute exposures.<\/p>\n

M86 is an eliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo, lying at the heart of the Virgo galaxy cluster.\u00a0 There are a lot of galaxies in this image;\u00a0 above M86 is another elliptical galaxy, M84:\u00a0 to the left and right are edge – on galaxies NGC4402 and NGC4388.\u00a0 Below M86 are two galaxies near the bottom of the image, the one on the right is NGS4438, and on the left is\u00a0 NGC 4435; together they are known as the “Eyes galaxies” or Arp 120.<\/p>\n

M86 has a magnitude of 9.8, and is about 52 million light years from the Earth.\u00a0 It is notable for having a highly blue – shifted spectrum, since it is moving toward the centre of the Virgo cluster from the side opposite to us at a rate of about 250 km\/sec.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Dale Holt,<\/strong> using his 505mm f 3.5 Newtonian telescope with a cooled Watec120N video camera, sketched Arp 286, located in the constellation of Virgo.\u00a0 This is actually three galaxies, NGC 5566, (biggest), NGC 5569 (smallest, below left) and NGC 5560 (most distorted, bottom right).<\/p>\n

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Arp 286<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In colour images NGC5566 is decidedly yellow, NGC5569 a pronounced blue, whereas NGC5560 is multicoloured.<\/p>\n

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Ian Papworth<\/strong> sent in 4 images.\u00a0 Ian used a Celestron 6SE f6.3 telescope and an ASI 120MM camera, plus colour filters for the M57 image.\u00a0 Globular cluster M3 is in the constellation of Canes Venatici. \u00a0 M57, the “Ring” planetary nebula, is in the constellation of Lyra.\u00a0 M3 has an apparent magnitude of 6.2, so it is a borderline naked eye object even with the most favourable observing conditions.\u00a0 It contains an untypically large population of variable stars.\u00a0 M57 is 1.5 x 1 arcminutes in angular size and is about 2,300 light years from the Earth.<\/p>\n

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M3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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M57<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ian’s next two images are of spiral galaxies.\u00a0 M101, the “Pinwheel” galaxy, is in the constellation of Ursa Major;\u00a0 M94 in the constellation of Canes Venatici.\u00a0 M101 is about 170,000 light years across and contains about 100 billion solar masses worth of stars.\u00a0 M94 has an inner and outer ring,; the former is a starburst region, where star formation is being driven by the inner bar -like structure sending gas into the ring.<\/p>\n

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M101<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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M94<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below is a second image of M94;\u00a0 Ian sent this both as a “positive” and a “negative” to help show the fine detail captured.<\/p>\n

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M94<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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M94<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Michael Kinns<\/strong> sent in 4 drawings, all of galaxies, using a 200mm f6 Orion Optics Newtonian telescope.\u00a0 M105 is an elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Leo:\u00a0 also in this drawing is elliptical galaxy NGC 3384.\u00a0 Both are members of the\u00a0 M96 group of galaxies, which also includes M95.\u00a0 M49 is another elliptical galaxy in the constellation of Virgo.\u00a0 The nucleus of M49 emits X rays; it is likely that the supermassive black hole responsible is around 565 million solar masses, whereas the black hole inside M105 is “only” around 1.5 – 2 million solar masses.<\/p>\n

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M105<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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M49<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here Michael has sketched edge – on galaxy NGC 4565 and NGC 4725, both in the constellation of Coma Berenices.\u00a0 NGC 4565 is also known as the needle galaxy or Caldwell 38.\u00a0 It is a giant spiral and if it were face on would be truly spectacular.\u00a0 NGC 4725 is an intermediate barred spiral Seyfert galaxy; it has an active nucleus indicative of the presence of a supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n

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NGC 4565<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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NGC 4725<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Steve Norrie,<\/strong> observing from Fife,\u00a0 imaged four galaxies, all to be found in the Messier catalogue:\u00a0 M106, M99, M61, and M64.\u00a0 Steve used a Skywatcher EDR80 refractor and a modified Canon 600D DSLR.<\/p>\n

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M106<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

M106 is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici.\u00a0 Classified as a Seyfert II galaxy, the production of X rays and unusual emission lines in its spectrum indicates an active supermassive black hole at the centre of M106.<\/p>\n

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M99<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

M99, located in the constellation of Coma Berenices, is not classified as a starburst galaxy but it does have star formation activity about three times that of\u00a0 other, similar galaxies.<\/p>\n

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M61<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

M61 is a barred spiral galaxy in the Virgo cluster. \u00a0 This galaxy is classified as a starburst type,\u00a0 and its supermassive black hole is thought to be around 5 million solar masses.<\/p>\n

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M64<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

M64 is the well – known “Black Eye” galaxy in Coma Berenices;\u00a0 its inner disc contains the dust lanes responsible for its appearance.\u00a0 The outer disc is of similar mass to the inner one, but rotates in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dave Finnigan<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five section members sent in 9 images and 5 drawings during April. Alan Clitherow, Planetary Section Director, took this image of M86 with his MN 190P telescope and QHY100SC camera. Alan was experimenting with an off axis guider and thisRead more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2150","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-reports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t